Food Industry News, Insights, and Education for the CPG Community

In this week’s roundup: Kelloggs unveils names for new business divisions, Blue Apron works to solve liquidity issues, Meijer expands Flashfood program to include SNAP benefits and Albertsons and McCormick introduce new product looks.

From smoothie mixes to new cereals and oatmeals featuring adaptogenic ingredients to on-the-go morning meals, the show floor was packed with both new and old entrants in the category. Here’s a look at some of the newly released products featured at Expo West 2023.

Big changes are afoot at CircleUp. The company, which has become a significant source of investment and lending capital to early-stage CPG brands, has has begun divesting its financing vehicles, including a venture capital fund and a credit platform

At last week’s Natural Products Expo West, innovations in the frozen food set were plentiful, ranging from modern interpretations of international flavors to plant-based breakfast sandwiches to crispy appetizers. Here’s a look at some of the notable new and recently-launched products featured at Expo West 2023.

Watch reporter Lukas Southard talk with FitJoy’s founder and president Norman Taliaferro about the brand’s progression from whey protein bar into grain-free snack company. Taliaferro explains how building an inclusive brand is more important than individual product callouts.

The NOSH team discusses what they saw, heard and tasted at Expo West 2023 including the possible reverberations of Silicon Valley Bank’s meltdown on CPG food startups.

EnWave Corporation has sold its Moon Cheese snack brand to Creations Foods along with a royalty-bearing commercial license agreement to produce cheese snacks in the U.S. as the food drying technology company strategically focuses from retail CPG to licensing partnerships.

We’re inviting the local Boston CPG community to our HQ office on Thursday, April 13th for a food, beverage and beer industry meetup. Join our BevNET, NOSH, Brewbound and Taste Radio teams from 6 PM to 8 PM ET for networking, beverages and light appetizers. We also encourage you to BYOS a.k.a. “bring your own samples” for others to try!

Facing a net loss of $15.6 million in Q4 2022 – up 126% year-over-year – plant-based food and powdered drink brand Laird Superfood said it is emphasizing turnaround efforts in the new year during an earnings call this week.

Swedish oat beverage maker Oatly announced that revenue increased 4.9% year-over-year to reach $195.1 million in Q4, while also informing investors that it had secured $425 million in financing commitments that will allow the business to grow as it looks to reach “self-sufficiency.”

Circana, the new combined company name for IRI and the NDP group, announced today the second cohort of 13 consumer packaged goods companies for its Diversity and Advantage program (DAP), eight of which are food and beverage brands.

A day ahead of Expo West, news broke that Patagonia Provisions had acquired climate-friendly snack brand Moonshot Snacks, the CPG brand of carbon management platform Planet FWD. A week prior, Planet FWD had announced a new partnership to join forces with Climate Neutral, a carbon credits certification program.

Has a new report touched off industry panic over erythritol? Judging by Expo West, perhaps not quite yet. A week before the show, scientific journal Nature Medicine released a study claiming that erythritol was linked to elevated rates of heart attack and stroke.

Filmed at Expo West 2023, in this interview The Kraft Heinz NotCompany CEO Lucho Lopez-May shares how the joint venture has approached innovation and is bringing plant-based alternatives to the Kraft Heinz portfolio.